Culinary Union can’t muscle win

Poor showing blamed on late endorsement

Clinton supporters Joann Benton, left, and Milagros Valdes shout down Obama supporters at Paris Las Vegas. Clinton won the caucuses at seven of the nine sites on the Strip that had been set up so workers, many of them Culinary Union members, would be able to caucus.

Before dawn, the Culinary Union’s army of organizers gathered in the large second-story hall of its Las Vegas headquarters. Members lined up for coffee and doughnuts, a kind of last meal before making the final push for the union’s endorsed candidate, Sen. Barack Obama.

Their organizing packets contained a flier that read: “Culinary Members Are Sticking Together! Culinary Members’ Voices Will Be Heard!”

The members were heard -- but not in the way the union’s leadership had hoped.

Sen. Hillary Clinton won seven of the nine at-large caucus sites on the Strip, sites her husband had derided as giving disproportionate influence to the 60,000-strong union. She won Nevada by 6 percentage points.

In short, the Culinary didn’t deliver.

“I’m not going to make excuses,” said Culinary Secretary-Treasurer D. Taylor. “You have to give credit to the Clinton campaign. She won.”

The ramifications will be felt for some time, as the union now faces a divided membership and perceptions of lost clout after months of carefully cultivating its image as Nevada’s political kingmaker. (Another line from the flier boasted, “Culinary Members Will Elect Barack Obama!”)

To be sure, the union is still fresh off bargaining victories, and has the upper hand as it now negotiates a new contract with the troubled owners of the Tropicana. The union will still be a powerful player, but the loss is real.

Union officials are doing a good deal of soul-searching, analyzing what led to a fairly calamitous result.

The frustrations were obvious when Kevin Kline, the Culinary’s staff director, barred a Sun reporter and photographer from what was billed earlier in the day as a union victory party, an event to which the Sun had been invited. “We just need a few hours to get our heads around this,” he said.

First and foremost, Clinton’s overwhelming victory on the Strip demonstrates the Culinary’s endorsement did not reflect the wishes of the union’s rank and file. And Culinary members said as much to Sun reporters who attended each of the nine caucus sites.

Clinton dominated Obama among Hispanics, winning by a 2-1 margin, according to exit polls.

With such a large Hispanic population in the union predisposed to go for Clinton, the Culinary was commencing well behind the starting gates.

On a recent swing through a Hispanic neighborhood, organizer Maria Gomez, accompanied by Culinary President Geoconda Arguello Kline, took two hours to visit three members’ homes. One meeting took an hour.

The low turnout at some sites and the predominance of nonunion or management figures would also seem to suggest that the rank and file weren’t fully energized.

The public signs of fracture were subtle but significant in the past few weeks. About 25 members picketed the union’s headquarters the day the Culinary endorsed Obama, ostensibly to protest the loss of banquet jobs at the Rio and Paris Las Vegas. Many held Clinton signs though, and some members expressed frustration over the union’s tortured endorsement process.

Culinary members clap and cheer during a caucus day rally and informational meeting at the Culinary Union Local 226 headquarters in Las Vegas early in the morning Saturday, January 19, 2008.

Audio Clip

D. Taylor addresses the Culinary Union

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Toni Mitchell on the Culinary's Endorsement

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Robert Ragan on the Culinary Union's support

“How come it took the union three or four months to endorse Obama?” said Robert Divecchio, a Clinton supporter.

The question was a frequent one, as Culinary organizers such as Augie Salinas knocked on members’ doors for nearly eight weeks leading up to Saturday’s caucus. In the absence of a candidate, organizers were pushing solidarity. Members wanted a candidate. And most on Salinas’ route wanted Clinton, he said.

The delay is what Taylor regrets most.

“We had given members full access to all those candidates for months and months and we had no endorsement,” Taylor said. “The ability to move the knowledge of Sen. Obama through our membership was challenged due to the time element.”

Although the union will not comment on the process it used to arrive at the endorsement, it was clear there was tension between the Culinary local and international parent Unite Here. The Culinary had planned to announce its decision after the Iowa caucuses, but then postponed it until after the New Hampshire primary, leaving the union just 10 days to educate members about Obama.

“It wasn’t mine to make,” Taylor said of the endorsement. “It was done by the international union.”

The small window led the Culinary’s army of organizers to push Obama hard, and the pushy approach riled some members, particularly those who had already settled on Clinton. The Clinton campaign had raised the contention last week that its supporters within the Culinary ranks had been intimidated by union activists to support Obama. No Clinton supporters within the union, however, complained to Sun reporters Saturday of any intimidation.

But the stresses of a divided union membership carried into caucus rooms Saturday, as Clinton supporters openly taunted Obama supporters, waving noisemakers in the air at one site.

“I believe they came out too late” for Obama, said Toni Mitchell, a Culinary worker at New York-New York. “If they had come out sooner they could have been more tactful with the people and they probably would have gotten some more support.”

And then there was the Bill Clinton factor. He toured “back of the house” areas at several Strip properties last week, spending two solid hours at one casino shaking hands with Culinary members on his wife’s behalf.

At the Mirage site on Saturday, Bill Clinton seemed to allege the Culinary Union was intimidating voters, saying it was un-American. “This is America. Everybody is supposed to be able to vote,” he said. Clinton won the site by 25.

The influence was undeniable.

“It’s not too often that you have the former president of the United States greet you as you go into your caucus or have Chelsea Clinton leaflet you,” Taylor said. “It was a full onslaught of Clinton and I congratulate her. She won.”

The political powerbrokers in Nevada will take note, but the union remains vital.

“They’ve taken a serious hit,” a Democratic source said. “But I suspect they’ll find a race they’ll have an effect on and stomp on somebody. They have to. They’ve lost stature not only in the political community, also with their members. They need to do something.”

Nevertheless, given Obama’s standing in the polls a month ago, Taylor called the union’s work “remarkable.” The Culinary helped the campaign close a 20-point gap to about 5 points, he said.

As to whether the union’s political clout had diminished as a result of the loss, Taylor simply said, “Time will tell.”

Besides, his attention is now elsewhere: “We’ve got a big contract fight at the Tropicana.”

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no one wants to say it but i will. Latinos and whites in the west are not ready to vote for a black president. be he/she half black or all black. i live in san antonio now, however, i've lived and worked in vegas for 10 years (I.P.} when i heard the culinary union came out for obama i started laughing. i told my wife:"no one is gonna tell a latino to vote for a black man... no one. and all the white people i know in vegas wont go that way either" the union is out of touch with its rank and file. period. go hillary!

It is unfortunate that people have to fall back on race. It is also unfortunate that the leadership of the union is not listening to the membership. I would encourage all unionist to challenge their leadership the next time.

If you do not find racism it is because you are going through life with your eyes closed. Personally, I am tired of being force fed the Clintons. No thanks, I'm full! Do any of her supporters have the stamnia to really check out the lies and propaganda that spew from both of their mouths. Bill's rage about the hotel caucus' being worth 5 times the others votes. Pure lies, he knew, it was only an adversion to draw the truth away from Hillary's camp and the fact they did cause the lawsuit to stop people from voting who she thought were against her. Then Hillary has said she worked all her life to get the voters out and informed. I will quote Bill here, "give me a break". Check it out, I dare you. Between the Washington Politicians and women voters (I am a woman also, but will not be led to the slaughter with my eyes wide open). (that is one fault of women voters, we are too trusting and want a fairy tail) you will give Hillary the nomination, you have to, they all have you brain washed. Do you think all these voters will come out and support her in November? Wrong! These voters are coming out because they want change. Why do you think it is so close right now. The Edwards and Obama supporters will disappear or maybe cross over and vote Republican. The Republicans even want Hillary on the ticket. They know so much about her and can and will divulge any dirty little secrets that they know. Haven't you listened to any of them. Check out the clips when they have been asked who they want to face in November.Why do you think the Clintons have so many documents sealed in the Clinton Library. Bill and Hillary both knew Hillary was posing herself for a run to the White House. The women of this country are just as guilty of getting caught up in the rush to be part of the Clinton fairy tail as the Obama supporters are in the rush to get change in Washington Politics and the image the world views the United States.

One comment I forgot to make,Who bought and paid for the signs that sayI support my UnionI support Hillary. Those signs are expensive, do you think the workers or the union (who was backing Obama) paid for those signs. Why doesn't someone find that out?

I can see why WHITES and HISPANICS wouldn't vote for a BLACK MAN. I can understand especially from the HISPANICS view as to why they just won't support a BLACK MAN. It was the BLACK MAN who stole Texas, California and the whole West from the HISPANICS, It is BLACK MEN who stand at the MEXICAN border patrolling to make sure MEXICANS STAY OUT! It is BLACK men who are leading the tough immigration policies in Washington. Right(ha) No No wait a minute I must be confused, that was the WHITE man who did that. But the HISPANIC will still vote for him, yet he will not vote for the black candidate because he is black, historically the black man has done nothing to you to cause this kind of dislike towards him. Didn't you learn from the Native Americans- DIVIDE US and they will CONQUER! This comment is for the first responder!p.s> I need not tell you what the blacks did to the whites for 400 years-whew! oH NO, wait a minute...that was uh uh...

I forget to add, Clinton sent her lynch dogs to STOP the vote in the casino strips. Kind of reminded me of the old south when klansman would use hateful and threatening tactics to prevent blacks from voiting. She tried to disenfranchise the disenfranch. Without the opportunity to vote at their workplace, I doubt many would have voted at all. Yet these disenfranchised individuals voted for her anywhay. How pathetic! How Sad! They just could not vote for the black guy because he was BLACK and we all know what the black man has done to the hispanics historically. Nothing!

BIG WORDS ... SPECULATION ... BLAMING GAMES ... IT'S ALL NONSENSE. THE ONLY REASON OBAMA LOST WAS THAT THE CULINARY UNION GUYS COULD NOT CONTROL THEIR WOMEN ... SO I ASK YOU GUYS, WHY DID YOU LET THE WOMEN VOTE? ... WHO WANTS A WOMAN IN CONTROL?

how did the culinary union decide to back obama instead of clinton. did it poll its workers or did D. Taylor, who was obnoxioulsy in front of TV cameras constantly for the past week decide for the rank and file. perhaps there lies the blame.

The Clinton campaign has used their main campaigner, Bill Clinton, to discredit the character of Barack Obama. In New Hampshire, he creatively left off the last sentence of an Obama quote to misrepresent Obama's stance against the war. In Nevada, he makes a statement about overhearing a union boss threatening to penalize culinary workers who support the Clintons... yet Clinton's campaign can't verify his story. What I find amazing is that the press has not pursued these stories. Are we so afraid that the Republicans will win that we don't want to expose the kinds of tactics that the Clinton's are using? The Clinton philosophy is that "the end justifies the means".

I'm tired of seeing our leaders lie. But then the Clinton's might rationalize "that depends on what the definition of "lie" is."

Would we even know Hillary if she wasn't married to Bill? She has "found her voice" by taking the messages that Obama has been consistently saying from the start. Her website has even evolved into the informational website that Obama has always had.

Who is the leader who can inspire and unite us? Really listen... It's Obama!

For all those Hispanics or Latinos. It is not the black man that is legislating and profilling every Hispanic as illegal immigrants. Oh! maybe is the black man. It is not the black man that has performed all the injustice and segregation to the Hispanic community. It is not the black man that attempts to divide a union amongs its members that they long fought for. It is not a black man that attempt to disnfranchise the hispanics and cause division amongs them. This is not about race it is about education and poverty. Poor, uneducated and older people voted for Clinton. Generally speaking those group of people are easily manupulated. Younger and more educated and future generation voters do not get involved with race. They got beyond race and voted for the content of the candidates they choosed be it Edwards Clinton or Obama. In the next 50 years when the current baby boomers are gone, we will have a better electorate as you could see. Much of the younger generation careless about race as they find themselves engaged in more activities that trancsends race whether it is the war in Iraq. There is always going to be race in humanity. If all the blacks and white are extinct today, Hispanics will fight against hispanics and within the Latino community there will still be divison. The ability to transcends race is present in future generation because of better education. The only enemy to this progress is the MEDIA which constantly try to abait this kind of conversation...

My husband has been a loyal Culinary Union member for 25 years here in Las Vegas and he does not support the candidate the union chose. Since the Union backed Obama, my husband has come home every day with a leaflet from the union basically stating "your either with us or your against us!" Their intimidation and strongarm tactics did not work. How sad for them. They had the union membership believing that the union would remain neutral until the national convention. It makes me wonder what deals were made under the table that the union membership does not know about. My huband and I are Edwards supporters because he was the first and the most consistent and most vocal supporter of our recent contract negotiations. I think the unions support of Obama was a slap in the face to Edwards.